


Mirror

by voidxgear



Category: Devil May Cry, Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-07
Updated: 2013-01-09
Packaged: 2017-11-24 00:25:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/628194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voidxgear/pseuds/voidxgear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Who does Roxas wish to be? Who does he see when he looks in the mirror?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dreams

In my dreams, I'm a different person.

No, not Sora. That was a long time ago. And this is different. Back then, I just had dreams about Sora. This time, I _am_ this other person. I can see, hear, taste, and touch just as if I were this other guy.

I don't know who he is but...he's amazing! He's very strong and when I'm him in my dreams, it makes me feel strong too. He has a pretty mean punch and a sharp tongue to match. I've never felt as powerful as I have when I dream and I look down to see I'm him instead of me. I find myself reaching behind me to grab a very large (and very impressive) sword and swing it around to defeat enemies that I'm not familiar with but it doesn't matter, because they're no match for me anyway. Or I'll find myself using my right arm to reach across impossible lengths without so much as a thought, it's just a natural movement. I hardly get tired and when I get hurt I heal so much quicker. I could stay in these dreams forever. Why would I want to be me when I could be him instead? 

These dreams continue on for a long time before they start to change. After the fighting is done in the dreams, I go home to a small, messy, lonely apartment. The excitement, the rush is over. It's actually...a little sad. There's no one around, no one to talk to or hang out with. It's just me, big and powerful, but alone. 

Nights go by and more dreams reveal that I've been alone for awhile now. The only girl I liked couldn't stand to be with me anymore, since she lost her brother because of me. No one else in the world really likes me. I don't fit in with them because I'm different from them. And sometimes, I look down at my right arm which can do all these neat and cool things, and I feel like a freak. Suddenly, the me that I am in my dreams isn't all fun and games like I thought. 

One particularly cold night I had trouble falling asleep at all, and when I finally did, I had a dream that I couldn't sleep either, as him. My taller, stronger self eventually gets up out of bed in the middle of the cold night and drags himself to the bathroom, maybe to get a glass of water. I'm not sure. I flip the light on and catch a glance in the mirror. My breath instantly catches in my throat. 

I saw my own face, staring back at me in shock.

I had never seen his face, but it was always clear I was in a different body. What was going on? What kind of tricks was my mind playing with me?

"Who are you?" The reflection asks. I open my mouth to answer, but nothing comes out. The dream ends.

I wake up in a cold sweat and it takes me several seconds to register that my name is in fact Roxas, I'm from Twilight Town, I have my own life, and I'm not someone tall, big and strong who works for a religious organization. I'm just little old me. And I am in desperate need of a glass of water. 

I get up and walk to the bathroom, catching my breath. I rub my eyes and remind myself that it's all just a dream. I might need to see a shrink, but they're still only dreams. I know who I am and no dreams can change that. Not now. Even so, when I flip on the light and look in the mirror, it's not my own face that I see and once again I'm left staring at the mirror in shock. Except this time it's real. 

The face staring back at me wasn't my own. The features were a little more hardened, the eyes more deeply set but there was something very sincere in them. He has short, white hair and I've never seen anything like it in my life. But there was something very familiar about him...

It's him. It has to be. I'd never seen his face, but I'd spent enough days in his body to know.

"Who are you?" I ask him. 

"I was about to ask you the same question." He retorts. That voice, it was like a smooth melody. I'd heard myself speak with that voice so often in my dreams that it almost felt like my own. In a way, it was. 

"My name is Roxas. You're not real. You're in my dreams." I was scared. It took me this long to realize it, but I was. How could I be sure I wasn't dreaming now? What was reality? I didn't know anymore, because my dreams had spiraled out of control and had started to haunt me.

He looks shocked all of a sudden and I start to feel nervous. I'm going insane, I realize. I'm talking to a mirror for crying out loud! "What?!" I demand nervously.

"You're him." He says in disbelief. "You're the one I've been dreaming about."

Whoa, hold the phone. "...Excuse me?"

"I dream about you. You like to eat sea-salt ice cream. You lost both your best friends. There's another guy that looks sort of like you that you call your Other. You have a weapon called a keyblade."

My heart stops. I hardly registered what he was saying, but something about the way he was speaking to me as though he'd known me my whole life....I don't know. It just made me think of all those days I spent in his body, in my dreams, all big and strong and smart. Apparently he's got a heart to match that impressive strength of his, and I find myself drawn to it. 

"I'm Nero." He says, and he gives a short laugh. "I must look like I'm nuts, talking to a mirror like this."

The more he talks, the more I realize it. It was there all along. I didn't want to be him in my dreams every night simply because I disliked being me in my real life. It was something more. A voice starts to speak, and I don't know if it's him or me.

"I have something to tell you. I'm in love with you."


	2. Hand print

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roxas is having trouble sleeping after his encounter in the mirror.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So not used to writing in present tense but I've been giving it a try with this fic. Hope it still flows.

Since then, I've felt incredibly empty. If I had known that what I thought was such a sincere confession could make me feel this way, I don't know if I would have said anything at all. It's like someone carved out my insides with a knife and left the one thing I wanted most dangling right in front of my face, just out of my reach, but still in my sight, always to remind me that I can't have it. Carved out whatever insides I actually have so there's nothing left but a hollow shell. I guess that makes sense, after all I'm just a Nobody anyway, right? 

I can't touch him, I can't be with him, and the only way I can see him is through a mirror. If I'm lucky, that is. I'm not sure what makes it work and why it doesn't always work. He doesn't seem to get it either. I don't know if he's feeling the same way I am or not. I...I hope he's not....

It's been thirteen days. I haven't had the dreams. I haven't seen him in the mirror. It used to be I would dream every night that I was him, strong and powerful, having fun, killing demons. I don't have any regrets, but sometimes I miss when things were still that simple, if only because ...I could feel close to him. 

I love him, he loves me, but we're both alone, separated from each other by forces greater than our comprehension. But they say life's unfair, right? So what, were we just meant to confess to each other and that's it? Maybe there is no destiny.

I haven't slept that much. For awhile I was sleeping okay, and then after a few days I gradually started losing more and more sleep. It's the thirteenth night since the confession, and I can't sleep at all. 

I give up around 3am. I'm exhausted, my eyes and body are heavy, almost beyond my control but still I get up and walk to the bathroom. Sometimes, within the past couple of weeks I'd wake up in the night and do this, and look in the mirror, stare at it for a long time but no matter how much I stare I still only see my own face. Then I'd go back to bed and drift off. Tonight is different. Tonight I know the sandman isn't planning to pay me a visit. 

I sit on a little table across the bathroom sink and mirror, hands folded in my lap and just staring my reflection. I didn't even bother turning the light on but there's a soft blue nightlight illuminating the room, giving it a soft glow. I'll sit here, and I'll stay here as long as it takes until I see his face. I cannot physically or emotionally move on until I've met with him one more time. 

Time passes. Hours maybe, I don't know, but the sun's not up yet. I barely have a sense that time even passed at all. Reality begins to fade in and out as my eyes drift open and shut repeatedly. I want to fight it, but it's beyond my control at this point. I feel the back of my head meet the wall behind me. My eyes start to drift shut again....

"Wake up, beautiful."

My body jolts and my eyes shoot open and I instantly look at the mirror. Finally, at long last, I see not my face but his.

He laughs. "You look like you've seen a ghost. You alright?"

Suddenly, I don't feel tired anymore. I scratch the back of my neck shyly, though my tone sends a different message. "Where have you been?"

"Here. Waiting for you."

"...Me too." 

"Hey, if I were you, I'd be waiting on myself too." He says with a smirk.

I roll my eyes at him. "You know what I mean!" 

He laughs a little, but it fades out relatively quickly. "I can't believe myself. Sitting in front a mirror all the time like this."

"Why'd you do it?" I'm not sure why I asked him that. Maybe I just wanted to feel validated somehow.

He shrugs nervously. "I don't know. I guess I just....wanted to learn I wasn't so crazy after all. I mean, talking to a guy in a mirror I've seen in my dreams? I've seen some pretty weird stuff, but I think this takes the cake and the icing. I just...wanted to know I wasn't losing it."

I clasp my hands together and begin to fidget. "That's all, huh?"

"Putting me on the spot, don't you think?"

"Fair enough."

"What about you?"

That was a fair question, I guess. "I just...well, I missed you." I admit. "I don't have the dreams anymore. In fact I can hardly sleep at all. I don't know why."

He smiles. "I missed you, too."

It's nice to be missed. I never had that feeling before, the feeling that someone misses you. Or if I ever have, it was so long ago that I hardly remember anymore. Kinda makes me feel wanted. His smile gives away so much, yet so little. He's as invested in this conversation as I am, but is the reason he can't sleep the same reason I can't sleep? 

I have the urge to look down out of insecurity, but I don't. I'm afraid to. If I do, he might disappear, and I waited so long for him to come here. "I...I just...I gotta know..."

He doesn't say anything as I struggle to find my words, just looks at me with an unreadable expression. Waiting. Maybe even hoping. I don't know.

My vision blurs and I realize my eyes have welled up with tears. I didn't even know I was crying. "What are we supposed to do?" I ask. 

His expression shifts, he bites his lip, but he doesn't speak.

"Is this it?" I ask.

He waits a moment, then his voice comes out as a whisper. "I don't know what to do."

Exactly the answer I was afraid of hearing. At least he's honest. "Me neither." I hear my voice crack. Dammit.

He moves closer to the mirror and carefully places his right hand on it, palm facing me. "Roxas...." I get up in response and stare at his devil bringer on the mirror in hesitation before I place my hand over it in the mirror. 

"It's....warm." To be fair, it was pretty humid in the house, I guess. But...a guy can dream, can't he? 

"Yeah, it is." He says, his tone a little uneven. However, he regains himself pretty quickly and looks at me with a firm, sincere stare. "Roxas, I want you to listen to me."

He could recite an entire novel and I'd listen.

"I'm going to find my way to you." He says. "I don't know how this has happened, I still feel like I might be completely out of my mind, but I know you're real. We've spent time in each other's lives, getting to know each other. I feel like I've known you all my life. I promise you, I won't stop until I've found a way. But, Roxas....just in case I don't..."

"No."

"I want you to be happy. You've been pushed around and controlled your whole life. Nothing should ever tie you down, least of all a guy in your dreams." His tone fell uneven again as he said it. Did he really mean it? It just sounded like...it pained him so much to say it.

"But this is what I want." I plead. "I don't wanna be alone anymore."

"You're not alone." He said. His eyes betrayed his words. Why would he say these things if it hurt him so much? "I'm always closer than you think." 

"Nero..."

His hand pulls away and his image starts to fade away. I feel a scream start to brew from within my lungs, ready to pushed out as the emptiness I've felt returns. Before I can cry out his name, everything fades to black. 

My body jolts. I wake up. I'm sitting on the table across the from the bathroom sink and mirror with the lights out, save for the soft blue nightlight. Was it all a dream? My heart races. It can't be a dream, please don't say that was a dream. But how could that have been real? I turn on the light and lean into the mirror, my hands at each side of the sink. The bags under my eyes are even clearer now. I couldn't have slept long. 

But then something else catches my eye. A hand print on the mirror, but it doesn't look....normal. My breath caught in my throat, I slowly place my shaking hand over it. The hand print, it's bigger than my own hand.


	3. Guidance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes all we need is just the right push.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah I'm not as proud of this chapter but it's necessary soooo

I wasn't going to tell him. In fact, I wasn't going to tell anyone. But Sora just has this...way around people and I guess that I'm not excluded from that. I'm not sure how I feel about it. Either way, he'd come to Twilight Town. I had no idea he was coming. I'm not even sure if he was in he was in the middle of some other quest or adventure and decided to pause to talk to me for awhile or not. Either way, we sat in my bedroom at opposite ends of the bed, and I told him about Nero. 

I'm pretty sure that Sora's the only person who wouldn't think I was crazy. Maybe that's why I told him. 

"Where's he from?" Sora asks, sitting on my bed with his legs crossed, giving me his full attention. 

I'm looking down down, etching in my head the checkered pattern on my bedsheets. "Some place called Fortuna. I have no idea where it is. I don't even know if it's in....the same universe."

"There's a lot of worlds out there. I haven't even seen them all. He's gotta be out there somewhere." 

How naively optimistic of him. "It's a nice thought, but I don't think we'd be dreaming about each other and talking through mirrors if he was simply the next world over."

"Why not? The heart's capable of lots of things."

"My heart?"

"Yeah." He says, so sure of himself. He says all this so casually, as if he's describing how it rained the other day. "Trust me on that."

Trust him? Well, truth be told, I do. It's just....

"Well, say he is in another world." I say. "How do I find him? He could be anywhere. Like you said, there's lots of worlds out there."

Sora didn't answer right away. His head fell for a moment in thought. If I'm being honest, he looked a little sad. What did I say? "When I was looking for Kairi or when I was looking for Riku, I looked everywhere. I traveled to every world I could find, asked everyone I saw. I never gave up, even though Riku didn't want me to find him. You know how the story ends. Come on, Roxas. You told me yourself that you love him. Go find him. I'll even help you. I'll let you use my gummi ship. I'll even go with you, we'll look together. Don't give up. He needs you."

I felt myself emotionally spread thin all of a sudden. I was scared, I was grateful, I was hopeful, I was pessismistic, I was frustrated, I was angry. I couldn't pin myself down to one emotion. There was just so much power in what Sora said. So much _heart_.

"How can you be so sure he needs me?" I ask in a whisper.

"Come on, Roxas. He didn't wait all that time for you because he had nothing better to do."

I smile a little. "Yeah, I guess not." 

"What do you say? You gonna go find him or not?"

"You know, you're right." I say. "I'm not going to find him just sitting here waiting by the mirror, right?"

"Now that's the Roxas I know!"

"I'm gonna find him. I can't let anything hold me back."

"That's the spirit! You want me to help?"

I smile, but shake my head. "You've already helped me. I think...I think this is something I need to do on my own."

He smiles back at me. "You'll find him. I know it."

"If I do, it'll be because of you. Thank you."

He folds his hands behind his head and beams. "Aw, don't mention it! We're like brothers after all, aren't we?"


	4. Crumbling Walls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the right damn breaks.

I'm dreaming again. 

I'm him again, for the first time in a long time. Except this time, I'm not so tall and strong. And what I feel and see makes me incredibly scared and sad. 

I'm weak. I've been hurt. No, not me....Nero. Nero has been hurt. I hear him cry out something about a trap before leaning over and spitting out blood. I watch through his eyes as the bright red liquid is spat on the ground before he slowly looks back up and raises a middle finger. Bold move considering he's pinned by large blades against a wall. 

"Deja vu. You're not the first asshole to try and take my demonic blood." He says weakly but angrily. Demonic blood? Well, I guess that explains a few things. "You want this arm? How about I use it to shove one of these blades right up your sorry ass." 

Another one, right in his chest. He flinches harder this time. I'm him, I'm seeing this through his eyes, his body is my own, we are one. He's not in incredible pain, we both are. And I'm helpless, I can't do anything to help him. I can only watch. 

Come on, Nero. Break free. Finish this guy once and for all. 

The noises coming from his mouth sound so weak and pained. I've never dreamed I'd hear them out of him. He always seemed almost...invincible. If I were in his place I'd be dead by now. But he's suffering so much. I'm not sure which is worse. 

Come on, Nero. We have done great things together like this. Break free. 

Please.

"That tickled a little." He says weakly. "Haven't you done your homework? You can't kill me. I don't go down that easy!"

"I suppose I'll have to try a little harder then." A voice says. I'm not sure who it is exactly, all I can do is use information gathered from Nero's words. All I know is that I want a piece of this guy for myself. Me, two keyblades, and this guy alone in a room. Five solid minutes, that's it. Let me at him. 

A demon approaches, pointing a blade over his right arm. 

"What happens if we chop it right off, hmm?" 

I panic. I have no idea what would happen to him, but even as powerful as he is....

 _Nero!_ I cry out in my mind. I don't even think about it. I was practically screaming out his name. _Nero! The sword, it helps you right? Come on, use it! Don't let them do this to you! Nero!_

The demon raises its blade over his devil bringer. This is going to hurt like hell.

_Nero! I'm scared, don't go, I love you!_

A damn breaks inside me. I can't feel anything anymore except...anger. A light bursts around me as though I'm on fire. My fear is quickly supressed by determination and the sheer will to survive. No, this is all Nero, but right now we're one in the same. The devil bringer moves just in time, catching the blade in hand and I can't even feel it. Gripping it tightly I toss it and the demon aside like a rag doll. I hear the voice from before cry out and finally see the man backing away slowly. Nero moves, pulls the blades out of his body that are pinning him against the wall. One by one. It should be painful but we can't even feel it. 

At long last, he's standing on two feet. The sheer power and force emitting from him probably should be intimidating me, but instead I feel...safe. 

"Didn't try hard enough." Nero growls. 

"But...how?!"

Nero steps closer to the man slowly. "I heard a voice. The one I love is waiting for me." 

He...heard me?

I watch as the man starts to mutate into something demonic. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Nero didn't seem surprised either, in fact to him this whole thing felt too familiar. He was quick though. As he was mutating, he picked up one of the blades that had held him to the wall and threw it straight at him. It went right through his chest, rendering him immobile as he fell to his knees mid-mutation, then dissolved into a pile of ash. Good. Fitting end for a real monster. 

The glow around me, around Nero fades. Now he's feeling tired and sore again, but he knows he'll be back to full speed soon. The demons left come after him, but he doesn't waste any time in pulling his sword from his back and slicing them into bits until there's nothing left. Now he starts to catch his breath. There's nothing left now but the two of us, inside his head. 

_Can you really hear me?_

"Yes."

Oh gods. I can hardly breathe. _How is that possible?_

"How is any of this possible?"

 _Touche. Are you alright?_ I knew the answer to this question, after all I can feel what he feels.

"Yeah. Thank you."

_Me?_

"You heard me. You came when I needed you the most. I won't forget it, Roxas."

_Nero, remember when you said you were gonna find me? I'm gonna look for you._

He didn't respond. Could he hear me anymore? I couldn't tell, he gave nothing away. Just started walking away from the scene. 

_I'll always come when you need me. I'll prove it. I promise._

I wake up. It's morning. I feel refreshed, which hasn't happened in a long time. Since it's become a ritual, I head to the bathroom right away, flip on the light and look in the mirror, and what I see isn't nearly what I expected. The mirror is steamed up as though after a shower, but I'm the only one here, and the bathroom doesn't even feel hot, nor is the tub and shower wet at all. But there's something traced in the mirror, a message written with a finger. I read it out loud because I can hardly register what's happening.

"Come find me. I believe in you. I love you too."


	5. Once Was Lost

I guess that looking for an entire city isn't as hard as looking for a single person who could be in several different worlds (right, Sora?) but that doesn't make this much easier for me either. Sora has never heard of Fortuna. I'd be willing to bet that Riku has never heard of it either. Anyone else who might know is either out of reach or gone. And of course, all this is under the assumption that Nero's world is within this universe at all. So what do I do? Sora said that the heart is capable of many things. Maybe he's right, but it's not like sitting back and wishing for our hearts to bring us together is going to do the trick. I'm still having a hard time even grasping that I have a heart, but I will say this: Nero sure makes me feel like I have one. I'm not sure what it's supposed to feel like exactly, but he makes me feel like I might have ten. 

I first went into the old mansion in Twilight Town. Then Radiant Garden, where I went through Merlin's house, the castle, and the computer therein. Nothing. It occurs to me that no other world I can reach is going to have information on Fortuna, as most of the worlds are hardly aware of each other at all. All that's left is Castle Oblivion and the World That Never Was, and both are vacant. Besides, if there was that kind of information in either, I'm sure I would have at least heard of Fortuna during my time in the organization. 

I head back to Twilight Town after the pointless trip to Radiant Garden, feeling somewhat defeated. That doesn't mean I'm going to give up altogether, I just...need a new plan, I suppose. Once I'm in Twilight Town I head to the shop to buy myself a sea-salt ice cream. No, it won't fix anything, but it'll help me feel better. After that, I start walking home, eating my ice cream. 

I swear it was out of nowhere. The town was quiet, calm as usual, a few residents going their usual daily routes when a large shadow appeared. I followed it into the back alley. Turned out...it was a giant heartless. 

I summoned a keyblade in my left hand, which must have spooked the heartless, because it immediately reached down (thing was about ten times my height and size) and took a swipe at me. I jumped back just in time, but my ice cream was knocked out of my hand, splattering on the ground. 

Now he's done it. "Oh, now you're gonna get it." I growl. I race towards it even though I only come up to its hip and start swinging my keyblade, trying to be as quick as possible before it takes another swipe at me and gets more than just my ice cream this time. I get a few hits in, but it quickly backs up and backhands me. Since its hand was about as big as my entire body, it sends me flying, straight into a nearby brick wall. I collided into it. Pain radiated throughout my entire body as I finally hit the ground face first, still holding onto the keyblade. My vision blurred for an instant but I didn't waste more than a second as I started to push myself up off the ground. Slowly, but still. 

A shadow loomed over me.

_Roxas!_

I gasp, but I don't have a chance to react before I'm shoved aside by an unseen force. I roll a couple of times before I finally stop just as the ground shakes from underneath me. I'm on all fours and I look over to see that the heartless' giant foot had stomped right where I had been. 

But how did I move in time? 

No time for that now. I jump to my feet, then jump again on the heartless' arm, which was leaned down as he tried to take another swipe at me. Better luck next time. I climb up it's arm so fast, holding my arms at either side of me to keep my balance, my keyblade still in one hand. It growls and jerks its arm, but not before I make it to the shoulder and swiftly begin attacking its head. 

It lets out a loud, deep roar. I must have hurt it prety bad. A hand comes up and grabs my shirt from behind and jerks me away, throwing me towards the ground. Shit. That's going to hurt even worse. 

I stop. Midair. Yeah, just like that. I gasp again. I'm still midair, just hoving there. It feels like I'm laying _on_ something but I look and there's nothing there. 

_Are you alright?_

"....Nero?"

A large black fist comes down towards me and I have to move, fast. I jump to my feet, still midair, still standing on whatever it was that intially caught me, and I guard myself with my keyblade. I feel panic come from within me, but...it doesn't feel like my own emotion. I wasn't scared in that instant, but it was like something in me was. It reminded me of my dreams...

The keyblade sucessfully guards the giant fist and I use it to drive it away, taking a few shots at its wrist. The other hand closes in, trying to get me from the other side. I jump off the invisible thing holding me and land on the ground, rolling again before I make it to my feet. I gotta back up to the head and take it out. I gotta get back up there, but how? 

"Whoa!" Dark clouds snake toward me and forcefully grasp my ankles and wrists. These guys are getting good, too good. I'm lifted above ground until I'm about eye level with this thing. I can't move, I can't budge. 

"Not a fair fight you're playing!" 

I feel an jolt go through my body. For an instant, my body feels as though it's on fire, and for another instant more I'm paralyzed. 

_Roxas!_

"Was that you before?" I demand. I need to know. Right now.

_I...I guess it was. It was like I used my devil bringer, but..._

"I need to get to its head!" Shoot first, ask questions later. 

_Got it_. 

The dark clouds let me go as the heartless reaches for me, but it misses, and something else grabs me instead, the same invisible force from before. Nero. 

_Go get him!_

He throws me, but not violently, and gives me the right angle I need. I land on its shoulder again and take all the shots I possibly can, as fast as I possibly can with that keyblade before it gets the chance to throw me again. My arms begin to hurt, but soon it pays off. Pretty soon the big bad heartless is nothing more than a fading cloud of darkness.

Which also means that I start to fall.

_Roxas!_

I didn't even have a chance to think about the fall before I felt something grab the back of my shirt collar. I was gently lowered to the ground, where I dismissed my keyblade. I look around, as if expecting to see....

"How are you doing that?" I ask out loud. 

_I don't know. I was just watching, and I was scared you'd get hurt, then it just started happening._

"I looked for you today. There's no trace of your world anywhere."

_I'm pretty sure it's going to take a little more than a short trip and a map to find me._

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

_....Wanna clue me in?_

"I'll meet you in your dreams."


	6. Now I'm Found

I'm standing in front of the bathroom mirror with the lights out, including the night light. A keyblade is in my right hand, hanging at my side as I stare at the glass, tears running down my face. Nero's there, looking down. He starts to apologize but he stops himself. He knows it's not enough. He knows that these words won't bring us together. He asks me if I'm going to do it, glacing at my keyblade. I can't answer him because I know he thinks I'm severing our ties, when in fact my intention is the opposite, and for some reason, I'm having trouble speaking. I shut my eyes and feel more tears run down my face. I can't handle this anymore. I can't handle being at the mercy of the balance of the universe. I raise my keyblade. He looks at me, his expression so defeated. I don't hesitate. I swing my keyblade at the mirror.

_CRASH!_

***

A voice is fading in and out as I begin to wake. "Roxas? Roxas, can you hear me?"

I open my eyes and for a moment, my vision blurrs. A mix of browns and blues, but thankfully the lighting is dim enough to allow my eyes to adjust. My head hurts like hell, I feel like I've been clobbered by a crowbar. Before my eyes even fully adjust, I hold my head and try to sit up. The world spins.

"Whoa, easy. Don't get ahead of yourself."

It registers that I'm not home. I'm not on my bed or in my living room or on my floor. I'm sitting on a couch in a slightly messy living room that I know I've seen before....

"Man, I'm so relieved you're awake. You alright?"

Wait a minute. That voice. I freeze. It's coming from my left side. I want so badly for it to be true, but I'm terrified that if I glance over to be sure, I'll be filled with disappointment all over again. A sort of disappointment I'm not prepared to deal with. 

"Hey, Earth to Roxas." A hand appears in front of my face, waving to see if I'm actually awake, I suppose. It's not a human hand. I'm frozen in shock. He moves and leans in, his face appearing in my line of vision. That beautiful face, smiling wide, looking directly in my eyes. "Now you really look like you've seen a ghost."

All I can do is stare. This can't be real. "I'm dreaming...." I whisper, staring at him.

He shakes his head, still smiling. He reaches over and lightly pinches my arm. 

"Ouch!"

"Still think you're dreaming?"

My expression shifts. My smile mirrors his own. I start to shake, my body unable to contain the emotions beginning to flood within me. I can't even speak so I don't even try. I move fast, quickly into him and wrap my arms tightly around him, tight as I could bear and lean my face into his shoulder. 

He gasps in surprise but quickly calms down and embraces me tightly as well, nuzzling his face into my neck. "Hey, it's alright. It's alright."

"I can't believe it." I choke out. I'm crying. I'm beginning to think I cry too much lately but right now it's okay. These aren't sad tears. "Is it really you? Nero...." 

"Yeah, it's me alright. Man, you don't know how long I've been waiting for this." He says as he holds me tighter. 

I might have an idea on that, Nero. "But...how?"

"You don't remember?"

I shake my head. 

He pulls away to glance at my face, keeping his hands on my sides. I don't pull my arms from around him, either. He can see my tears now, but I don't even care. "You tried to come to me in my dreams again, but you couldn't get through, and you just saw me in the mirror instead. You said you'd had enough and you couldn't do it anymore. I thought that....well, you pulled out your keyblade, and smashed your mirror in the dream. The next thing I know, I come out here in the living room, and here you are, passed out on my couch. I don't know how it happened, but it's like you broke some kind of universal barrier. I guess that's why you were passed out for so long. It must have taken a lot out of you."

The only thing I remember is smashing the mirror, the rest of it is a blur. I suppose though it doesn't matter now. Somehow, I managed to achieve what I've been wanting for so long. I'm here, with Nero. He reaches for my face with his devil bringer, the demonic hand stroking my face gently. "I've been pretty worried. You've been out for almost a whole day. You sure you're feeling alright?"

"Well, my head kind of hurts, but otherwise I'm fine." I reach up and quickly dry my eyes. "You didn't stay with me the entire time, did you?" A whole day is kind of a long time in those terms. 

His eyes shifted away almost shyly. "The Order didn't need me that bad anyway." He says. 

I smile softly. "Well, thank you."

He looks back at me again, a glimmer in his eyes. "Now, if you'll excuse me, there's something I've been waiting to do for a long time..." He gently pulls me close, holds me tight, and presses his lips against mine. Something in my chest flutters instantly as I kiss him back. I'm not sure if he realizes it, but it's my first kiss. The sweetness of it and the fact that I'm simply _with him_ outweighs the anxiety by a pretty far margin, however. In fact, I kind of wished this moment could last forever. 

Eventually we gotta catch our breaths, I suppose. We pull away gently. "I could definitely use more of that." He says with a grin.

I laughed and teased him back. "Don't get ahead of yourself now."

"I've been behind for too long, I'm ready to get ahead. My mind's been racing since I saw you on my couch. Roxas...I don't think you're just here for a short visit. I mean...I don't know how you can get back home. I mean, even if you do, it won't be easy. You can't just...go from there and back here whenever you want, you have to..."

"What are you trying to say?" Don't tell me he was nervous. Is he trying to say what I think he is?

He takes a breath and takes one of my hands into both of his own. "I don't have very much, I work a lot, I'm kind of messy, and I've been told I'm a pain in the ass, and I know we're just meeting for real for the first time but Roxas....I want you to live with me."

"Nero..."

"We'll make it work. I give you whatever you need. It's just that, I've never been more sure of anything in my life before."

I slowly nod. "The truth is, the more I think about it, I don't want anything else. This is what I've wanted this entire time. I can pull my weight. Whatever it takes. I just want...to be with you." 

He smiles. "Then it's settled. Now, I think we should celebrate, what do you think?"

"How'd you wanna do that?"

His smile turns into a grin. "Well, no place around here sells sea-salt ice cream, but I managed to get a recipie for it..."

"Really?" I ask, grinning even wider, sitting at the edge of my seat. No, literally. "Say no more!"

He laughs and takes my hand, pulling me up and leading me into the kitchen. "I have a feeling you're going to like it here."

"I'm already in love."


End file.
